It was my day off today and due the fact that it's snowing and cold outside again, I'm spent my day inside by the fire and drinking lots of tea. On Wednesday's I would usually stay in bed for as long as possible and then proceed to gorge myself on Netflix but today, I woke up to my alarm and was immediately ready to get up (why does that never happen on my working days?). The problem with today being the day that I get the urge to be productive is that I tidied up last night, did all my laundry on Sunday, and have nothing to do.

Of course having nothing to do means that I will spend my entire day online watching Youtube videos, pinning everything in sight, and stalking people I haven't seen in a while on Facebook. Due to the fact that I'm spending my entire day on social media websites, I thought to myself, "Self! Today is the perfect day to write a blog post about Pinterest! Quit procrastinating and do it!" so here it is.

The 10 ways I use Pinterest daily

1. Recipe Ideas

Y'all may be unaware but I LOVE food. I am always up for trying new things and really enjoy cooking new recipes. The only problem with this love is that I really dislike going grocery shopping. While this does help me to try a lot of new restaurants, it also means that I frequently look in my fridge and try to concoct something out of almost nothing. Sometimes when I'm trying to figure something out the only thing that sparks my imagination is looking at my food board on Pinterest. That's how I managed to make up the best homemade buffalo mac and cheese recipe ever out of the 4 things I had left in my fridge.

2. Outfit Inspiration

It's pretty easy to feel like I have "nothing to wear" even when all of my laundry is done simply because I've warn everything multiple times and reimagining specific outfits can be a daunting task. Luckily, my style board is full of looks that I love. Some of them are combinations that I never would have thought of or am trying to get the courage up to try and there have been many days that I've fallen in love with and old shirt simply because I paired it with something I've never tried before.

3. Home Decor

While my "Dream Home" board is incredible, extravagant, and will probably only ever going to be a dream, the aesthetics of the images I've pinned are a great guide for my internal interior designer. Since I recently moved into a new place, I've been spending a TON of time pouring over pin boards of home decor.

4. Planning Dream Vacations

I have an extensive list of places that I want to see before I die and Pinterest is the best possible way for me to get there before I can afford it and without leaving my home.

5. Makeup and Hair Tutorials

Those of you who have known me for my whole life know that I only recently (pretty much when I went to college) started wearing makeup on an incredibly regular basis. Due to that fact, I've used Pinterest to learn new things and to find out what products I should try out.

6. NAILS

I like to change up my nail color frequently. While I was in school I would change it roughly every 3 days. Needless to say, I like to do more than just a single color and I get a LOT of ideas from pinterest.

7. Tattoos

As you all know from my previous post, I love tattoos. I think they're beautiful and interesting and love that they're always with you. Pinterest is a place where tattoos can be celebrated. It's where I get to look at the amazing artwork and have even found inspiration for my own tattoos there.

One of my favorite things to do is watch movies and craft and I'm always looking for new ideas of things to make. My current project is an American flag wreath in honor of the olympics that I found on while in the middle of a lunch break pinterest session.

9. Fitness

There are zillions of fitness pins and it is incredibly easy to find new workouts and motivational techniques. My personal favorites are the yoga and pilates tutorials.

10. Procrastination/Time Killing

Pinterest is to blame for many of my late nights and lost hours. It is so easy to get sucked in and go on a pinning rampage that it can be dangerous in some ways. The nice thing though, is that it is also very easy to kill the extra 15 minutes of your lunch hour or the hour between classes when you don't have anything to do.

I started writing this entry at about 10:00 this morning and now at almost 10:00 at night (I took breaks to eat and meet up with some friends), I'm finally finished. There are many more pins on my boards thanks to today's topic so follow my pinterest, check out my boards, and let me know what some of your favorite things about pinterest are!

Mondays are hard. They force you back to reality and out of the comfy nest of relaxation that each weekend brings. Working in retail, I only have a one day weekend so when I have too much to do and have to use that day to catch up at work, the thought of getting up and dealing with another Monday is even less exciting. This past Monday was one of those days. I managed to force myself out of bed, get ready, and brave the frozen tundra that Iowa has become this winter to make it to work on time and mentally prepared for lots of calls to vendors that aren't open on weekends.

Thanks to the fact that I was able to work on Sunday, I managed to get through most of my to-do list fairly quickly so when a couple walked into the store and headed straight for me I was surprised and praying that I hadn't forgotten an appointment. It turned out that I hadn't and instead, I was standing face to face with my second cousin Leslie and her husband Roger! Having never met them, I was absolutely flabbergasted and elated that they had stopped by to say "hi" and get to know me a little bit.

Leslie, Roger and I talked for well over an hour and hearing stories from when my mom was little or my grandparents were first married was such a treat. There was never a lull in the conversation and I felt like I had known them my whole life. When they headed back to Omaha with a promise to call if they were ever in town, I couldn't help but think about all of the family members I have but haven't met. My father lost touch with his family, especially those who stayed in Puerto Rico, and although I've always spent a TON of time with my close family, I've never met a lot of the family my mom and uncles grew up with.

Mehe world. We group text each other (literally all of us) at least once a week (more if the Hawkeyes are playing) and always make the extra effort to see each other and stay updated on everything going on in each others lives. Meeting Leslie and Roger only reiterates that and the fact that family is everything. They're there for you no matter what and even if they haven't met you yet, you have a connection unlike any other. Never forget that. Familia es TODO.

I'm turning 24 in a few short days and while most people make resolutions or goals and look back on their lives when the new year comes, I tend to do that around my birthday. The last year has been a complete roller coaster. I made some massive changes in my personal life, moved, and started working full time so it's safe to say that my life took a 180. That fact has lead me to be especially nostalgic but has also let me become more of the person that I want to be. Y'all know from my post Dream Big that I have a LOT of things that I want to do before I die but in the short term, I have some things I want to accomplish too. Here's my list of everything I want to do in the next year.

1. Put myself out there

Starting this blog has been a wonderful outlet for me and I've loved every minute of it but I want to keep challenging myself to try new things, meet new people, and do more things that make me uncomfortable.

2. Save $100 a month

If I can manage to save just $100 dollars a month, I'll be able to take a truly badass vaca to ring in my 25th year of life. Living for a quarter century is something that should be celebrated in a BIG way.

3. Work out at least 4 times a week

This is kind of a cliche but when I was growing up I danced ALL the time. When I stopped dancing and went to school, I never found something I liked as much and working out went on the back burner. This year, I'm trying something new. Pure Barre is a dance inspired workout that combines the precise small movements of barre work with yoga-esque stretching and I am already falling in love with it!

4. Keep in touch

One of the things that changed most for me last year was my social life and my friends. I have some AMAZING friends from my time in Ames and I don't want to lose touch with any of them. Face time calls, texts, snapchats, phone calls make it really easy to keep in touch and I plan on taking full advantage of them.

5. My Blog

It's safe to say that I love everything about blogging. The creative outlet has been just what I needed and this blog has become a big part of my life. I'm not sure where this blog will take me over the next 12 months, but I'm extremely excited to find out!

Thanks to everyone who has supported me in all of my big changes these past few months! Y'all mean the world to me and I can't wait to share the next 12 months experiences with you!

Since tonight is the official opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia I feel that it is only appropriate to showcase Team USA's official song for 2014. Along with Gavin Degraw Team USA made this fabulous video!

I am unbelievably excited for today because I am currently watching the very first broadcast of the 2014 winter Olympics! It's not a secret that I am slightly obsessed with America and the Olympics are one of the few times that my love for America can overflow without being too annoying. To start the 2014 Olympics off right, I'm letting you all in on my favorite things to watch during the winter olympics :)

1. Snowboarding

I LOVE to watch absolutely anything to do with snowboarding. Maybe it's because I've never done it or maybe because I'm in complete awe of all people who can jump off of things, flip around, and land on their feet but I will be glued to my TV for as many snowboarding events as possible. I'm also stoked to watch slope style.

2. Curling

Possibly one of the strangest sports ever, curling is one of the most intense of winter sports. From the first time I watched a nerd sweep the ice in front of a large rock with a handle I was hooked. Curling reminds me of all of the "sports" we used to make up when we were kids and stuck inside on snow days.

3. Ski Jumping

More of that whole jumping from extreme heights and landing on your feet thing. Plus this year they've added women's ski jumping!

4. Bobsledding

Jamaica. Need I say more?

5. Figure Skating

My grandmother absolutely loves figure skating. She has been a fan since forever and any time that it is on television she watches. This meant that I grew up idolizing figure skaters like Michelle, Tara, and Kristi. Although I never did anything more than learn how to skate backwards, I have always loved watching skating and talking about it with my grandmother. Needless to say, I'll be calling to talk about this whole "team figure skating" thing. Plus there's a real thing called a "sow cow" what's better than that??

6. Skiing

There's nothing like a good comeback story to warm my heart on a cold winter night.

There are TONS more events that I'll be tuning in for but these 6 are the one's I've already got scheduled on my DVR. Follow my twitter @KNdoubleU for some amazing commentary on all of these events!

It's time for another installment of Saturday Sounds and I had planned on letting you all in on my musical history with a fabulous Rooney song...Instead, I watched Safety Not Guaranteed and absolutely fell in love with this song. I've posted both the movie version and the soundtrack version because there's a certain magic to Mark Duplass playing the zither and singing that gets lost in the full version.

Seriously, I'm now obsessed and will be playing it on repeat forever.

Magic right?!

The full song is currently playing on my laptop...on repeat...can't stop won't stop.